Oct. 9, 2018

Meeting called to order by  Chairperson at 7:02 p.m.

Members present: Steve McGrew, Behnam Kazemi,  Perry Schwartzberg, Bob Koch, and Jaxon Farris

Dennis Suisen and Phil Van De Wiele  absent

George Pisa in attendance.

Motion made to approve last minutes, motion carried 5-0.

Old Business

Steve: The sponsorship for up and coming players is going above the budget proposed. Might have to pull in the number of players or limit the amount that can be received from each sponsored player.

Jaxon: Perhaps only 4 tournaments for the year?

Bob: Let the sponsored players decide which 4 tournaments that they want to be sponsored?

Perry: Cap it at $1000 per player per year?

Behnam: At the last meeting, we spoke about putting a note on the website so that the sponsorship could be open to the membership.

Steve: We will take applications for a total of 4 sponsored players for next year.

Steve: It’s important that we get members to bring their card, and be able to show their card when asked. We need to do a mass mailing to the membership so that they know that they need to carry their card.

Steve: Any news from Omnipong?

Jaxon: I’ve contacted them multiple times but have heard nothing back.

Steve: We need to download the rules of Omnipong.

Perry: To run a tournament?

Steve: Yes, to run a small tournament and see if we are able to do it.

Steve: Any report on the broken equipment building up in the storage area?

Bob: Most of it is gone, this is no longer an issue.

New Business

Bob: Perhaps it would be a good idea to have a photo of the week on our website showing some of our members?

All agree this would be a great idea.

Behnam: Joola L.A. Open had two Japanese players attending. These two top ranked players would be interested in coming to our large tournament.

Bob: If we increase the prize money, more of the top ranked players may come.

Steve: We would also need  to obtain sponsorship money to bring players from overseas to our tournaments. This should be something that we can do.

Perry: Maybe we could have 1/2 price entry for SDTTA members to the large tournament? It would certainly help increase participation from our club.

All agree good idea.

Jaxon: Phil and I built one of the tables. We still have many more to go.

George: Looks like we could build 5 or 6 more before we start to run out of room.

Bob: Shirts, we need shirts.

Behnam: LA Open sold nice Joola shirts for $10.

All agree that would be great and needs more investigation.

Meeting closed at 7:38

Meeting adjourned 8:07

Sept. 11, 2018

Meeting called to order by Vice Chairperson  at 7:03 p.m.

Members present: Behnam Kazemi, Dennis Seisun, Perry Schwartzberg   Bob Koch, Jaxon Farris, and Phil Van De Wiele.

Steve McGrew absent

Motion made to approve last minutes, motion carried.

Old Business

Jaxon: Additional tables need to be built from the new Butterfly shipment. Phil and Jaxon volunteer to help.

Jaxon: Need to talk about sponsorship of players.

– Much is discussed about the amount of money the club wants to put up for sponsorship, the number and qualifications of the players that the club will sponsor, and the need to put something on the website to alert all SDTTA members of the decision to sponsor some club members.

Bob: Perhaps we should sponsor 3 or 4 tournaments with a total budget of $4000.

Phil: We need to mention which tournaments we are sponsoring.

Perry: We are currently sponsoring these 4, U.S. Open and Closed, L.A. Open, and the large tournament we run in San Diego.

All agree that this is a good group.

Further discussion will be held with the newly elected board as only the U.S. Open in Florida is still left in this fiscal year.

Jaxon: We need to send out a bulk e-mail to make sure people bring their membership cards.

Bob: Will enforce the need to show a membership card before replacing a broken ball with a 3 star Nittaku Premium as is club policy.

Jaxon: We now need to bring in the tables every day and night after we are done playing. We can no longer leave them standing on the floor overnight.

Phil: We need to update the white board and notify members as best that we can.

Jaxon: Status of hosting a smaller tournament before our large one is being considered. Phil and I will use the Omnipong software.

Bob: Maybe we should just run the Memorial Day tournament?

Perry: It would be a good idea to run a smaller tournament if we are thinking of bringing the big one in-house.

Jaxon: Tried to contact Omnipong in order to get the software needed, so far, no response.

Jaxon: Status report on broken barriers, nets, etc.? General report.

Bob: There are items in the storage room that need to be repaired and removed. We have them separated and are in good shape.

Behnam: Maybe Jair Jimenez can coach for a day? $200 for 6 hours and that would include his brother Morgan to help with coaching and translation.

Approved by the board 4-0-2, Perry and Phil abstaining. Passed

Important dates for the next election to be voted on:

October 23 – Deadline for candidates

November 13 – Voting begins

November 20 – Final votes tallied

6-0 in favor. Passed

Behnam: 9-12 this Saturday, Sr. Tournament. Currently 16 participants, and will need 2 rows of tables.

All agree that this is fine.

Dennis: What is the status of the picnic?

No plans secured but all agree that a committee should get on it as the members do appreciate it.

Treasurers report submitted by Dennis.

Perry: Subsidized coaching went well, particularly among the up and coming lower level group.

Motion to renew subsidized coaching for Perry and Pisa for another 6 total sessions.

5-0-1 motion passed. Perry abstains

Phil: Second Sunday needs to be third Sunday in October and November. Need two tournaments with 3rd Sunday awards, not 2nd Sunday awards.  Total of 16 awards.

6-0 approved .

Meeting adjourned 8:07

June 11, 2018

Meeting called to order by Chairperson  at 7:02 p.m.

Members present: Behnam Kazemi, Steve McGrew, Perry Schwartzberg   Bob Koch, Jaxon Faris, and Phil Van De Wiele.

Dennis Seisun absent

Motion made to approve last minutes, motion carried.

Steve: Need to talk about old news.

1) The tournament  made for the club approximately $3000. The details were sent to Atilla Malek. Steve will forward to the board.

2) Steve and Phil went to the BPAC meeting and mentioned the issues that we had at our tournament, including closing early on Saturday which caused quite a problem. Apparently, the paper work was started but due to the change of the dates, new paper work was not submitted. This is something to pay attention to in the future.

3) For events like this, it is important that the board members know what their duties are so that these things are taken care of.

Behnam : The tournament was still run poorly even though there were fewer players and extra tournament staff.

Bob: One of the events didn’t finish due to the early closing on Saturday night and we needed another first place trophy due to a mandatory split. One of the players could not make it on Sunday. Bob did take care of this.

Steve: Six months prior to the next tournament, we need to start the paperwork.

Phil: Maybe run a small tournament to see if we can use local software and run the tournament in house. We will discuss dates and plans in the near future.

The board talks about sponsoring some of our more active tournament and up and coming players. It is agreed to sponsor Jeff Ruiz, George Pisa, David Flores, and Keenan Zhou.

The board agrees to sponsor these players for:

L.A. Open, U.S. National Championships, U.S. Open, and our large San Diego tournament.

Voted and approved 6-0.

Perry mentions that we still have bottled water left over from the big tournament. Perhaps we should be giving out water to our members during this hot summer season? The board agrees that this is a good idea and will start to implement this.

Steve talks about shirts and the need to approve a color and style. The board agrees that it may be better to spend a bit more and get higher quaility.

Steve: Fireman’s tournament June 25th 3-8:30, Monday. They will use 4 tables and donate $200 to the club for the equipment usage.

Voted and approved 6-0.

Steve: Perry and Pisa are done with this round of subsidized coaching. Should continue Junior program for Pisa at $50/sessions. Steve suggests that we do the subsidized coaching quarterly.

Voted and approved 6-0.

Behnam nominates Suresh Kanekar for the SDTTA Hall of Fame. He is highly regarded by all on the board for all that he does and has done for the club.

Voted and approved 6-0.

Perry: John Gascon, the head at Balboa Park, wants to get kids in for Friday afternoon from other facilities. He will need some equipment and perhaps a bit of help. Suggesion is $200 budget.

Voted and approved 6-0.

Steve: More balls are needed for the robot.

Voted and approved 6-0.

Phil: Second Sunday tournament random doubles was fun and enjoyable. Phil would like to purchase a new computer and printer for the clubs events. Bob will research prices.

All agree that it is needed.

Steve: Pickleball is trying to get more time for their program which would take from ours. It is important to keep bodies in the club during our hours or we could lose them.

Steve: The new Butterly tables will be $900 each plus $100 shipping in quantity. We have already approved a purchase of 14 tables. We need to sell 13 blue tables and plan to do so for $300 each.

Meeting closes at 8 p.m.

February 13, 2018

Meeting called to order by Chairperson at 7 p.m.

Members present: Behnam Kazemi, Steve McGrew, Perry Schwartzberg Bob Koch, Jaxon Faris, Phil Van De Wiele, and Dennis Seisun

Kelly Byrne, San Diego Senior Games Commissioner present.

Motion made to approve last month’s minutes, motion carried.

Kelly Byrne informs the board about the San Diego Senior Games and the need for Volleyball to utilize the entire facility on the day that table tennis competes.

Issues include a cost for the facility if table tennis is moved to another day and who would and should pay for such costs. All agree that this should be the volleyball group since they are asking for the change. The best date found is September 15 but needs to be confirmed by checking the Balboa Park schedule.

The board thanks her for her work and that we will get back to her on the dates. She will contact volleyball to tell them that they must pay any excess costs for the table tennis tournament.

Kelly Byrne exits the meeting.

Old Business:

Bob: Need to check minutes before approval. Inquires if corrections are made prior to approval. Perry says that he will check on it.

Steve: Talks about tables. There are 27 made and in the storage room at Balboa Park, 5 still unmade and in our storage unit. We need 31 tables for the tournament in May to run properly. Steve suggests that at this point, we do not sell any more tables. All members agree.

Behnam: Inquires if the tables are still in storage.

Bob: Suggests that we get them out as the storage contract ends at the end of March.

Steve: Inquires if we have room for 5 more tables in our storage at Balboa.

Perry: Suggest we get rid of the desk to make more room

General agreement that we need to see how many tables we can comfortably get into the room.

Steve: We may be needing short barriers. A count needs to be made to make certain we have enough for the tournament.
Phil: Shows a diagram of the tournament layout for May showing tables and barriers needed.
Further study needs to be done to confirm that we have substantial barriers for the tournament.

Steve: Mentions the new ball machine and that we need a committee for set up and set down and also to show members how to use it.
Perry: More balls are needed for the machine
Vote on getting more balls for the machine unanimous 7-0.

Steve: Talks about the BPAC meeting that he and Phil attended. “Not much to say”
Steve and Phil will show up regularly so that they get a voice to vote on matters.
It appears that after June, it will be more difficult to get things done as dealing with the City of San Diego will be more difficult than our previous contact, the Balboa Park Athletic Council.

Steve: Talks about lighting, and wish that we could improve dark areas including the front row and corners.
Phil: Mentions that we need a certain brightness in order to hold a 4 star tourney.

Steve: We sold 2 tables, those will be the last that we are currently going to sell.

Steve: We may need trophies for the tournament and don’t want cheap little trophies.
Bob: Have books with trophy options and will look into it.
Steve: Kids should get trophies at our tournament.
Board consensus agrees.
Dennis: $350 should go to trophies for 8 events, 1st and 2nd places.
Agreed by all.

Steve: Subsidized coaching thoughts?
Dennis: Good idea. Many people liked it, club money spent well for the members.
Phil: Great idea.
Board: Two coaches, six weeks, same thing as last time. Perry and Pisa coaches.

Steve: Half price entry costs to our big tournament for kids? Baja kids and other kids?
Do we need to change the entry fees for kids? Need to ask Attila how this affects him.

Phil: Second Sunday tournament went well.
Jaxon: Really enjoyed playing.
Phil Second Sunday scrubbed in March due to closure at Balboa.
Steve: Let’s continue it. Next events: u-700, u-1100, u-1550, and Open.
Phil: Let’s give a Balboa rating bonus for winners and runner-ups.
Also, we should go ahead and get a larger number of trophies to cut the costs, maybe 50 trophies.
Board agrees.

Steve: Is Bob continuing streaming video at the Thursday night tournament?
Bob: Since the level has gone down on the first table, I have not done it lately.
Dennis: Let Bob decide when to do it.
Steve: Maybe give prizes to boost the top table? Maybe equipment?
Jaxon: Participation is going down somewhat, and the top level is low currently.
Dennis: Does a stronger player bring in more top players?
Jaxon: Yes
Board agrees to discuss further means to build participation and level on Thursday tournament.

Behnam: The Laguna Hills club wants to do an inner-club event for competition. Can we get a bus? Players eligible are to be over 55 years old and up to 1900 level.
Board agrees that this is a great event and Benham agrees to organize it.

Behnam: Let’s subsidize shirts for the club.
Board wants nice shirts but Steve suggests that they are not easily found at a decent price.
More work will be done to locate something that will work for all.

Dennis: Let’s have our meeting in March at Simon Lee’s restaurant in Mira Mesa.
Board agrees.

Meeting adjourned 8:30 p.m.

Submitted by:
Perry Schwartzberg
Secretary

December 12, 2017
Meeting called to order at 7.05 p.m.

Members present: Behnam Kazemi, Steve McGrew, Dennis Seisun, Perry Schwartzberg plus three new board members: Bob Koch, Jaxon Faris, and Phil Van de Wiele.

New members voted in by board. Approved unanimously.

Discussed positions to be filled and adjusted. Agreed upon:

• Steve McGrew: Chairperson
• Jaxon Faris:  Vice-Chairperson
• Dennis Suisen:  Treasurer
• Phil Van De Wiele:  Executive Director
• Perry Schwartzberg:  Secretary
• Bob Koch Member:  Relations
• Benham Kazemi:  Public Relations

All voted in 7-0 approved by board.

SDTTA member June Lim brings up ideas to better the club including:

Changing the Thursday Tournament to a different day or perhaps adding another day for a different Tournament. Board agrees that Thursday night Tournament is a staple but also that another day, most likely on the weekend, would be looked into. According to the survey taken during the vote submitted by Phil Van de Wiele, Saturday would be the best day for another Tournament.

Showing up late for the Thursday tournament also is discussed as a problem for Jaxon who runs the event and also as inconsiderate to the participants who have to wait for contestants to play against.

Bob Koch would like the club to purchase balls for the membership. Also something that the board is willing to consider.

Benham inquires to Steve if we have talked to Craig Crum about running the May tournament along with Gao Jun. Steve replies that he has not and that we need to be looking into other options for a tournament director.

Benham inquires about the issue with our storage for the tables which is up in February. Currently have 5 new tables in storage. Soon only 3 and the thought is to use better storage in our room at Balboa and perhaps bring those three tables into this room. Bob thinks it can be done.

Bob suggests selling the tables we currently have that are not in good shape for $300 ea. to make room for the new ones.

Dennis motions to sell tables at $300, Bob seconds the motion. Vote 7-0 in favor.

Board discusses subsidized coaching which was one of the desired programs according to the survey mentioned previously. The board would like to do so on a limited basis, perhaps on a fixed day of the month. More talk of this program in the new year.

Membership fee is approved to stay at $50/mo., free for Juniors under 17 years old.

Bob suggests upping the prize money for the May tournament. Suggestion to be considered at the next meeting.

Perry suggested that the first time free is somewhat problematic. Others agree but no action is taken.

Phil suggests that the Web Calendar needs ‘help’, and that he should be able to handle it.

Bob suggests that the introduction pamphlet needs updated – hours, days, etc. Perhaps put it on a larger legal size paper.

Board discusses:

1. Renewal of the phone for Jaxon who mentions that he mostly uses his own phone on Thursday night for the Tournament.
2. Video instruction for new members on club etiquette, equipment usage, etc.
3. Thoughts on a ‘member spotlight’ interview for the website is discussed.
4. At the big tournament, we would look more professional if we had the umpire stands and towel stands. Most agreed that this was a good idea.

Last issues included buying a robot and also a white board for the club as the robots currently used are not working properly. The robot would be used for those who are looking to play but can’t as of yet find a game. A robot committee would need to be formed to help with the set up, set down, and general usage.

All agreed and vote was 7-0 for.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Submitted by

Perry Schwartzberg

SDTTA Board Secretary

September 12 (Switched back to 2nd Tuesday of Month) Meeting called to order at 7:02 pm.

Members present: Behnam Kazemi, Jenny Hoang, Mario Lopez, Steve McGrew, Perry Schwartzberg, Dennis Seisun and Jorge Calderon.

Review of minutes from previous meeting was postponed until they were posted again for review of all Board members.

Behnam indicated that the Club’s Financial Statement should not be shared with other clubs.
Dennis indicated that the Financial Statement goes to the Facility Manager Berenice once a year, he also reported that payments were issued for the T-shirts, Borko’s gift and balls for the upcoming Seniors tournament, as agreed last meeting. A check from the facility was received and deposited ($4,500).

Volunteers needed for this coming Sunday, to help with the Senior’s tournament.

Steve indicated that 2 more tables need to be sold (1 green an 1 blue), he also recommended not to purchase any more of the current nets and look for better quality ones.

After discussing the issue at length, a motion was approved to subsidize our coaches $50 per session (1-2 hours) once a week each (3 coaches), for a trial period of 6 weeks. Perry abstained from voting. Coaches will charge $5 per session to all players attending.

A visitor Mr. J. Lawson representing “al racquet sports” spoke about integrating table tennis and our club in a “cross over” model to expand the sport and introduce table tennis to other racquet sports players.

A reminder by Perry about not wearing white shirts at playing.

Meeting was adjourned at 8 pm.

Submitted by

Jorge “George” Calderon
SDTTA Board Secretary

Monday August 14

Meeting called to order at 7:12 pm.
Members present : Behnam Kazemi, Dennis Seisun, Steve McGrew, Jenny Hoang, Mario Lopez, Perry Schwatrzberg and Jorge Calderon.
Minutes from previous meeting were reviewed and approved. The motion to purchase gift cards for facility employees was not executed because their supervisor did not approve.
Dennis reported that a check payment for the t-shirts was issued.  A $1,000 check was sent to Borko as approved last meeting. New memberships continue to come in and he updates the list accordingly.
Behnam requested to go back to the 2nd TUESDAY of the month at 7 pm, for the Club’s Board monthly meetings, all board members agreed, Perry will have to modify his schedule of lessons.
Behnam reported the request of the Vietnamese TT club to have our club donating a used table. Issue was discussed and donation of one used table was approved.
Steve indicated there is one table for sale, board members agreed to sell one of the blue tables. He also informed that the T-shirts will be available next week. Price of $20 (Twenty dollars) a piece was agreed.
Jenny requested to look into providing a class for women with a female coach.
Regarding the annual picnic, James was invited to this meeting but he did not come, flyers announcing the picnic and discussion of details of the planning were expected by now, Steve will contact the possible sources for catering and purchase needed items from Costco. Dennis and Jenny will take charge of the flyers.
Regarding Coaching, extensive discussion about the club subsidizing classes for member groups (Club would pay Coach a fixed amount for a 2-hour class once a week), participating players would pay a $5 fee per class; trial basis for a couple of months and reevaluation was also considered. Behnam requested coaches to offer their time and expertise (like Borko did at no charge, for several years) to some degree to compensate for the use of facility and equipment, for their business. Perry will discuss this with the other coaches, follow up on this issue needed next meeting.
Perry was concerned about nets, apparently we have plenty according to Steve.
Another item needing follow up: possible informative club video to be posted on our web page.

No further items, meeting adjourned at 7:55pm.

Submitted by

Jorge “George” Calderon
SDTTA Secretary